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19.11.09

Marvel Zombies

Land of the Thurs-dead: Comics and books. Literate zombies? Well, literally about zombies at least.

Imagine all of your favorite Marvel characters as zombies. Now, imagine all of your favorite Marvel characters as bickering zombies. That's right, not only can Marvel Zombies talk, they can annoy each other. The ability to speak their minds is one thing that sets Marvel Zombies apart from other kinds of zombies (I imagine this must have something to do with the limited storytelling possibilities otherwise). They also retain all of their superpowers and lovable charm when zombified. They just want to eat you.

The first appearance of the Marvel Zombies was in the comic series Ultimate Fantastic Four. The concept was then developed into a limited series written by Robert Kirkman (creator of my favorite zombie comic series of all time, The Walking Dead) and illustrated by Sean Phillips, with painted covers by Arthur Suydam. Kirkman and Phillips also created the prequel Marvel Zombies: Dead-Days and the sequel Marvel Zombies 2. After that, another team stepped in for Marvel Zombies 3 and 4, Fred Van Lente and Kev Walker.

I received two Zombie Spider-Men as Christmas gifts a couple years ago. At first I thought there might be a bit of rivalry between them, but they actually get along quite swimmingly.

"Web me, you bad boy!" *

Hmmm. On second thought, maybe they're getting along a little too swimmingly. I didn't stick around to see what they were doing with the dismembered limb.